North Korean leader orders emergency hotline with South Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a border inspection. (Photo: Yonhap)

YonhapCiting information from North Korea's national television channel, North Korea will reopen the dialogue line with North Korea at the Panmunjom truce village at 3:00 p.m. today, January 3, local time.

"In line with the leadership's directive, we will sincerely resume communication with South Korea. We will discuss issues related to the possibility of sending a delegation (to the Winter Olympics in South Korea)," said Ri Son-gwon, head of North Korea's agency in charge of inter-Korean affairs.

However, the official did not specify whether Pyongyang would accept South Korea's proposal for high-level talks next week.

The information was released just two days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un unexpectedly proposed peace talks with South Korea in his New Year's message, starting with sending a delegation to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics (South Korea) next February.

“We should defuse military tensions on the Korean Peninsula to create a peaceful environment, and both South and North Korea should make joint efforts,” Kim Jong-un said.

The proposal has been welcomed by the South Korean government. South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon proposed high-level talks with North Korea next week at the truce village of Panmunjom. Meanwhile, the US flatly rejected the proposal, saying that Pyongyang's proposal for talks would only be taken seriously if North Korea gave up its nuclear weapons.

If the North and South Korea resume talks on the hotline this afternoon, it will be the first direct contact between the two sides in two years. North Korea cut the line in February 2016 in response to South Korea's closure of the Kaesong industrial complex.